cover image Such Visitors

Such Visitors

Angela Huth. Trafalgar Square Publishing, $19.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-434-35732-1

These 13 stories by a British writer might be better sandwiched between recipes on the glossy pages of commercial magazines. Coy, often featuring tasteful couples caught in tasteful marital crises, they lack artistic vision. In ``Balloons,'' a character announces plans to leave his startled wife: ``But didn't it ever occur to you that things hadn't been well, how shall I put it, quite tickety-boo for some years?'' The husband of ``Sudden Dancer'' secretly takes dancing lessons in order to surprise his petulant spouse, who tardily realizes that not even proficiency in the Charleston will gratify her: `` `Turns out, though, it isn't just the dancing that counts. Not just the dancing,' she sighed.'' The longest entry, ``Ladies' Race,'' is no subtler: two lifelong friends are desperately enamored of the same man, who, unable to choose between them, orders them to compete for his hand by running a grueling race that proves not only fateful but fatal. The ironies throughout are far too heavy to buoy these banal tales. (June)